What do you think?
Rate this book
This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us
In her stunning debut, the creator of Black Liturgies weaves stories from three generations of her family alongside contemplative reflections to discover the "necessary rituals" that connect us with our belonging, dignity, and liberation.
"From the womb, we must repeat with regularity that to love ourselves is to survive. I believe that is what my father wanted for me and knew I would so desperately need: a tool for survival, the truth of my dignity named like a mercy new each morning."
So writes Cole Arthur Riley in her unforgettable book of stories and reflections on discovering the sacred in her skin. In these deeply transporting pages, Arthur Riley reflects on the stories of her grandmother and father, and how they revealed to her an embodied, dignity-affirming spirituality, not only in what they believed but in the act of living itself. Writing memorably of her own childhood and coming to self, Arthur Riley boldly explores some of the most urgent questions of life and faith: How can spirituality not silence the body, but instead allow it to come alive? How do we honor, lament, and heal from the stories we inherit? How can we find peace in a world overtaken with dislocation, noise, and unrest? In this indelible work of contemplative storytelling, Arthur Riley invites us to descend into our own stories, examine our capacity to rest, wonder, joy, rage, and repair, and find that our humanity is not an enemy to faith but evidence of it.
At once a compelling spiritual meditation, a powerful intergenerational account, and a tender coming-of-age narrative, This Here Flesh speaks potently to anyone who suspects that our stories might have something to say to us.
"From the womb, we must repeat with regularity that to love ourselves is to survive. I believe that is what my father wanted for me and knew I would so desperately need: a tool for survival, the truth of my dignity named like a mercy new each morning."
So writes Cole Arthur Riley in her unforgettable book of stories and reflections on discovering the sacred in her skin. In these deeply transporting pages, Arthur Riley reflects on the stories of her grandmother and father, and how they revealed to her an embodied, dignity-affirming spirituality, not only in what they believed but in the act of living itself. Writing memorably of her own childhood and coming to self, Arthur Riley boldly explores some of the most urgent questions of life and faith: How can spirituality not silence the body, but instead allow it to come alive? How do we honor, lament, and heal from the stories we inherit? How can we find peace in a world overtaken with dislocation, noise, and unrest? In this indelible work of contemplative storytelling, Arthur Riley invites us to descend into our own stories, examine our capacity to rest, wonder, joy, rage, and repair, and find that our humanity is not an enemy to faith but evidence of it.
At once a compelling spiritual meditation, a powerful intergenerational account, and a tender coming-of-age narrative, This Here Flesh speaks potently to anyone who suspects that our stories might have something to say to us.
203 pages, Hardcover
First published February 22, 2022
1,153 people are currently reading
18.7k people want to read
About the author
Cole Arthur Riley
2 books466 followersCole Arthur Riley is a writer and poet. She is the author of the NYT bestseller, THIS HERE FLESH. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.
IG: @colearthurriley
Twitter: @blackliturgist
IG: @colearthurriley
Twitter: @blackliturgist
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 847 reviews
February 23, 2022
THIS HERE FLESH by Cole Arthur Reilly is a stunning achievement. Her words are a gift that, time and again, wrecked me in the most beautiful ways.
The fifteen chapters are framed around insights on dignity, place, belonging, fear, lament, liberation, and more. Arthur Reilly's vulnerability in sharing insights gained from physical limitations, from being a Black woman of faith, and her transparency when discussing her Gramma and her father, lead to deep reflections.
Time and again, I found myself near tears, or openly crying (not a familiar response). As I reflected on this reaction, occurring across different days and weeks, I think it's due to how refreshing such honesty is, how welcoming to read the hope, to have her name truths. The phrase "defiant rootedness," for example, so perfectly captures the idea of perseverance and hope in spite of all, the insistence of one's worth and determination to remain.
Some books you meet at the right moment, and at a time when I've been more introspective and reflective, this has been a perfect companion, a welcome balm when things have felt fragile and uncertain in the world.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
The fifteen chapters are framed around insights on dignity, place, belonging, fear, lament, liberation, and more. Arthur Reilly's vulnerability in sharing insights gained from physical limitations, from being a Black woman of faith, and her transparency when discussing her Gramma and her father, lead to deep reflections.
Time and again, I found myself near tears, or openly crying (not a familiar response). As I reflected on this reaction, occurring across different days and weeks, I think it's due to how refreshing such honesty is, how welcoming to read the hope, to have her name truths. The phrase "defiant rootedness," for example, so perfectly captures the idea of perseverance and hope in spite of all, the insistence of one's worth and determination to remain.
Some books you meet at the right moment, and at a time when I've been more introspective and reflective, this has been a perfect companion, a welcome balm when things have felt fragile and uncertain in the world.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
May 25, 2022
Imagine if Toni Morrison and Anne Lamott were one person and wrote a book. It would be This Here Flesh.
Beautiful prose. Deep vulnerability. Profound theology.
This is a book that will change your worldview, and your perspective on God. And you will savor every line along the way.
This should be on every person’s summer reading list.
Beautiful prose. Deep vulnerability. Profound theology.
This is a book that will change your worldview, and your perspective on God. And you will savor every line along the way.
This should be on every person’s summer reading list.
January 31, 2022
This book is one that I read in a day but that will leave me pondering over its contents for a long, long while. I started following the author, Cole Arthur Riley (@blackliturgies) on Instagram a while ago, and when I saw she had written a book, I knew I had to read it. The way Riley shares her reflections on spirituality intertwined with the stories of her life and the lives of those who have shaped her is just poignant, thought-provoking, courageous, beautiful, and much needed. Absolutely will be buying a physical copy of this one, because it deserves a highlighter and tiny notes written in the margins.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 27, 2022
(Edit: It IS my favorite book of all time.)
This is a top contender to be my favorite book OF ALL TIME. To be sure if it is, I have to think a little more. But right now I can say that this book is the most beautifully written, with the most unique writing style that I have ever read.
I’m an avid reader. I have read a lot. And I have never read anyone who writes like Cole Arthur Riley does. She’s the most brilliant writer I’ve had the pleasure to read and every single one of the sentences she writes is a complete and perfect poem.
You don’t even need to care about the topics she discuss (while I cared a lot, and I believe everyone should care): even if it wasn’t for you, if you read this book, you will not be able to dispute that this is one of the most gifted writers of this generation. And many generations from now, her books will be considered classics and be studied all over the world. Mark my words.
So, while it’s probable, I’m not completely sure if it’s my all time favorite book (but it’s definitely in my top five).
But without a single doubt, I can say that Cole Arthur Riley is my favorite author.
And this book was her debut.
That’s how good she is at this.
And I can’t conceive how any person would rate this book with any other rating than 5 impressive stars.
This is a top contender to be my favorite book OF ALL TIME. To be sure if it is, I have to think a little more. But right now I can say that this book is the most beautifully written, with the most unique writing style that I have ever read.
I’m an avid reader. I have read a lot. And I have never read anyone who writes like Cole Arthur Riley does. She’s the most brilliant writer I’ve had the pleasure to read and every single one of the sentences she writes is a complete and perfect poem.
You don’t even need to care about the topics she discuss (while I cared a lot, and I believe everyone should care): even if it wasn’t for you, if you read this book, you will not be able to dispute that this is one of the most gifted writers of this generation. And many generations from now, her books will be considered classics and be studied all over the world. Mark my words.
So, while it’s probable, I’m not completely sure if it’s my all time favorite book (but it’s definitely in my top five).
But without a single doubt, I can say that Cole Arthur Riley is my favorite author.
And this book was her debut.
That’s how good she is at this.
And I can’t conceive how any person would rate this book with any other rating than 5 impressive stars.
March 12, 2022
The ruminations and meditations of the author about life in America as a Black person, a woman, and a person who suffers from chronic illness, as well as the lives of her father and grandmother.
The work is very powerfully and compellingly written. As a reviewer I cannot do justice to the raw power and vulnerability of her prose. It is a work to be read and experienced; one feels as if one is receiving power and energy from that vulnerability and the setting forth of the story, and one can understand the reason for faith, yet doubt, and yet faith the author experiences.
Go read and experience.
**--galley received as part of early review program.
The work is very powerfully and compellingly written. As a reviewer I cannot do justice to the raw power and vulnerability of her prose. It is a work to be read and experienced; one feels as if one is receiving power and energy from that vulnerability and the setting forth of the story, and one can understand the reason for faith, yet doubt, and yet faith the author experiences.
Go read and experience.
**--galley received as part of early review program.
March 23, 2022
If I could give this book 10 out of 5 stars, I would.
I have never had such a visceral reading experience as I have with THIS HERE FLESH. Her words make me physically groan, whimper, shout, sigh. It's almost more than my body can take in. It's fitting for a book about the body. I don't know how she did it.
The stories are sometimes shocking and deeply sad, but more shocking is the power she has to turn my worldview upside down with a sentence. Her writing is simply gorgeous. Her thinking is crisp. Read this book. It is stunning.
I have never had such a visceral reading experience as I have with THIS HERE FLESH. Her words make me physically groan, whimper, shout, sigh. It's almost more than my body can take in. It's fitting for a book about the body. I don't know how she did it.
The stories are sometimes shocking and deeply sad, but more shocking is the power she has to turn my worldview upside down with a sentence. Her writing is simply gorgeous. Her thinking is crisp. Read this book. It is stunning.
April 11, 2022
Deeply moving, beautiful truth-telling. I read it slowly because I wanted to savor every word. It is contemplative and thought-provoking. Some chapters I will probably sit with for a while (Place, Lament). I feel seen and inspired.
Truly, this is a work of art.
Added to my “absolute favorites” and “left convicted” shelves.
Truly, this is a work of art.
Added to my “absolute favorites” and “left convicted” shelves.
March 4, 2024
"This is a book of contemplative storytelling", each chapter covers a topic that Cole Arthur Riley unpacks using stories from her father, gramma, and her own life. The stories she shares from her family are memorable and they help put each chapter into context. The book was a little slow at first but it picked up once I got to the Lament chapter and beyond. There is much wisdom to learn from in this book.
April 2, 2022
I once visited a Black women-owned, independent bookstore specializing in non-fiction, Source Booksellers, and I asked one of the owners what a book she hoped everyone would read would be. She refused to answer with a single book, saying that everyone is on their own reading journey and that people should follow their interests and what they feel led to read.
This Here Flesh feels like that - a book that I was led to read. It was not on my radar at all until I saw Andre Henry plug it; then I feel like I kept seeing it everywhere. When I finally listened to the audiobook sample, I felt compelled to buy and download it. Within the first 20-minutes of listening, tears were welling up in my eyes. I wasn't searching for a book on contemplative spirituality, but I'm glad I read this. It feels like healing, like acceptance. This is a book I would want to listen to on a long hike, taking moments to pause, write, and reflect.
She begins with a preface, stating that she is not writing new things or ideas; "it's more remembrance than revelation, more maybes than certainty". Instead, this is how she has found meaning in the old and perhaps familiar. In the following 15 chapters, she tackles a variety of topics including affirming others' dignity (not giving it), the delusion of positivity, and the necessity of activism. She weaves in intimate, sometimes traumatic details from her personal life and of her family's lives and their interconnectedness.
There are many quotable moments in this book, but here are just a couple of my favorites:
Cole Arthur Riley is best known as the creator of Black Liturgies, a space for Black spiritual words of liberation, lament, rage, and rest. She and the spaces she has created are a gift.
While I won't go against the wisdom of not recommending everyone read any single book (including this one), if your reading journey leads you to this or any of Riley's offerings, I believe you will be better because of it.
This Here Flesh feels like that - a book that I was led to read. It was not on my radar at all until I saw Andre Henry plug it; then I feel like I kept seeing it everywhere. When I finally listened to the audiobook sample, I felt compelled to buy and download it. Within the first 20-minutes of listening, tears were welling up in my eyes. I wasn't searching for a book on contemplative spirituality, but I'm glad I read this. It feels like healing, like acceptance. This is a book I would want to listen to on a long hike, taking moments to pause, write, and reflect.
She begins with a preface, stating that she is not writing new things or ideas; "it's more remembrance than revelation, more maybes than certainty". Instead, this is how she has found meaning in the old and perhaps familiar. In the following 15 chapters, she tackles a variety of topics including affirming others' dignity (not giving it), the delusion of positivity, and the necessity of activism. She weaves in intimate, sometimes traumatic details from her personal life and of her family's lives and their interconnectedness.
There are many quotable moments in this book, but here are just a couple of my favorites:
"There will always be people more threatened by freedom in another person, who have something to gain from our bondage, and there are also voices who deeply love us but are unable to exist in the tension of who we are and what we believe and who they desire us to be and what they desire for our beliefs. This is the life of a human, particularly a human with any concern for belonging or survival."
"I think we can be fully free yet still have the capacity to become more free."
Cole Arthur Riley is best known as the creator of Black Liturgies, a space for Black spiritual words of liberation, lament, rage, and rest. She and the spaces she has created are a gift.
While I won't go against the wisdom of not recommending everyone read any single book (including this one), if your reading journey leads you to this or any of Riley's offerings, I believe you will be better because of it.
January 10, 2023
Contemplative storytelling that reads like poetry…. I loved this book! Written by a black woman with some health issues, this is an example of a voice we should be working to amplify. The stunning cover, and particularly the chapter on “Wonder"… phew. Brilliant.
When people or groups become too enamored with mountain tops, we should ask ourselves whether their euphoria comes from love or from the experience of supremacy. For example, whiteness, as a sociological force and practice, loves mountain tops. Being born of an appetite not for flourishing but for domination, it loves the ascent, the conquering. It will tell you about the view from there, but be assured that it is only its view of itself that rouses its spirit. It is about bravado and triumph.
There is nothing wrong with climbing the mountain, but bravado tends to drown out the sound of wonder. Perhaps you’ve known that person who devours beauty as if it belongs to them. It is a possessive wonder. It eats not to delate but to collect, trade, and boast. It consumes beauty to grow an ego, not in love. It climbs mountains to gain ownership, not to gain freedom.
Note: all chapters had an element of spirituality and some referenced stories or passages from the Bible, which may not interest everyone. However, regardless of what faith you have (or lack thereof), if you are just the slightest bit open to reading a brilliant author’s reflections and opinions, give it a try. Everything is offered up gently, and then the topic moves on.
When people or groups become too enamored with mountain tops, we should ask ourselves whether their euphoria comes from love or from the experience of supremacy. For example, whiteness, as a sociological force and practice, loves mountain tops. Being born of an appetite not for flourishing but for domination, it loves the ascent, the conquering. It will tell you about the view from there, but be assured that it is only its view of itself that rouses its spirit. It is about bravado and triumph.
There is nothing wrong with climbing the mountain, but bravado tends to drown out the sound of wonder. Perhaps you’ve known that person who devours beauty as if it belongs to them. It is a possessive wonder. It eats not to delate but to collect, trade, and boast. It consumes beauty to grow an ego, not in love. It climbs mountains to gain ownership, not to gain freedom.
Note: all chapters had an element of spirituality and some referenced stories or passages from the Bible, which may not interest everyone. However, regardless of what faith you have (or lack thereof), if you are just the slightest bit open to reading a brilliant author’s reflections and opinions, give it a try. Everything is offered up gently, and then the topic moves on.
November 28, 2022
This author had some valuable things to say, however, I listened to the audio version of this one and it was read by the author. The complete monotone whisper that she used to narrate it completely distracted from what was being read. It was an awful experience listening to it. I think I would have gotten so much more out of it had I read the physical copy instead.
February 6, 2024
Cole Arthur Riley's book is a Standard of Liberty. . .waving high and hard. It is an inspiration and demands respect in the reading of it. Chose your time thoughtfully, when you read this book.
For me it reads with an almost tangible spirit of reverence, that same which sits with me when I read scripture - holy and heart-deep - a quiet power to support me at times. Needful moments that are rare and far-between, but her words have the same silver ring to them, in which I hear those echoes.
This is a book that bears reading and re-reading, as it presents issues that need constant consideration. So I do. . .
For me it reads with an almost tangible spirit of reverence, that same which sits with me when I read scripture - holy and heart-deep - a quiet power to support me at times. Needful moments that are rare and far-between, but her words have the same silver ring to them, in which I hear those echoes.
This is a book that bears reading and re-reading, as it presents issues that need constant consideration. So I do. . .
May 8, 2022
I’m a big fan of @blackliturgies on Instagram so when I saw the creator, Cole Arthur Riley, had a book coming out, I preordered it right away. The chapter that will stick with me for a long time is chapter 8 on Lament. The author does an excellent job addressing a challenging subject. Her theological reflections woven throughout the whole book are thought provoking. Some of the writing felt a little distant to me, but I would attribute that to my own identity as a white woman and recognize not everything is written for me and my own life experience.
February 10, 2025
One of the best book gifts I’ve ever received. A book I will return to often. Cole Arthur Riley 💯
A few snippets I don’t want to forget:
On Lament: “In lament, our task is never to convince someone of the brokenness of this world; it is to convince them of the world’s worth in the first place. True lament is not born from that trite sentiment that the world is bad but rather from a deep conviction that it is worthy of goodness.”
On Rage: “It is easy to mistake oppressive anger for holy anger when you believe you are worthy of more than someone else, that your dignity depends on this. And even easier in a society that holds up an inflated sense of self for some and diminishes it in others. A mob of eight hundred insurrectionists storm the U.S. Capitol, and they are handled with great sympathy. But a Black man takes a knee during the national anthem, and it’s equated to treason.”
On Justice: “It is not that society needs good judges so much as we must become honest judges, capable of understanding our own hand in the injustices that we have been charged to address.” “Injustice has survived by cowering behind the guises of morality and ethics. The whole charade is diabolical. True justice has little concern for good and bad, and is much more interested in protecting and affirming dignity with tangible actions and repair.”
On Rest: “What if God doesn’t always want to use you? What if sometimes God justice wants to be with you?”
A few snippets I don’t want to forget:
On Lament: “In lament, our task is never to convince someone of the brokenness of this world; it is to convince them of the world’s worth in the first place. True lament is not born from that trite sentiment that the world is bad but rather from a deep conviction that it is worthy of goodness.”
On Rage: “It is easy to mistake oppressive anger for holy anger when you believe you are worthy of more than someone else, that your dignity depends on this. And even easier in a society that holds up an inflated sense of self for some and diminishes it in others. A mob of eight hundred insurrectionists storm the U.S. Capitol, and they are handled with great sympathy. But a Black man takes a knee during the national anthem, and it’s equated to treason.”
On Justice: “It is not that society needs good judges so much as we must become honest judges, capable of understanding our own hand in the injustices that we have been charged to address.” “Injustice has survived by cowering behind the guises of morality and ethics. The whole charade is diabolical. True justice has little concern for good and bad, and is much more interested in protecting and affirming dignity with tangible actions and repair.”
On Rest: “What if God doesn’t always want to use you? What if sometimes God justice wants to be with you?”
June 21, 2024
I first started listening to the audiobook on Libby, but as I listened to the stories I was so moved and I decided to buy a hard copy because I know I'll be returning to various chapters and ideas in here. I find her Black perspective is so valuable, beautiful and important.
I don't remember the last time I wept when reading a book, but this one did it for me. Riley writes very boldly, but she also has a gentle, contemplative touch which I love. In a few weeks, I plan on picking up her newer work and giving it a try.
It may be too early to say, but I am tempted to rank her among my favourite modern spiritual writers (with Henri Nouwen).
I don't remember the last time I wept when reading a book, but this one did it for me. Riley writes very boldly, but she also has a gentle, contemplative touch which I love. In a few weeks, I plan on picking up her newer work and giving it a try.
It may be too early to say, but I am tempted to rank her among my favourite modern spiritual writers (with Henri Nouwen).
January 4, 2023
This was brilliant. Would highly recommend.
April 23, 2024
Beautiful. What a gift.
May 17, 2023
I'm not sure I got as much as I should have out of the book but the poetry was beautiful in its twists and turns
April 22, 2024
I’ve been reading this book for almost a year, and I’m so glad I took my time with it. What a freakin gem. Mandatory reading for all humans. I love you Cole. Xoxo
September 30, 2024
Read this at a snail’s pace (like 2 years lol) because I wanted to experience and absorb and reflect on every word.
July 27, 2022
I'll say this, this might be my favorite book of all time.
I carried this around for weeks like a security blanket I was given at birth. I'm certain it's the most impactful book on spirituality that I've read, but it also opened a window into understanding things like body, dignity, community, wonder, and rage in ways I have never considered below. It's not just for the spiritual reader. It's for anyone who wants to learn how to pay attention, how to live inside their body, and who enjoys a fascinating intergenerational story.
Think: Toni Morrison meets Ocean Vuong meets Mary Oliver meets Henri Nouwen, meets Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, and James Baldwin. Oh, and maybe Wendell Berry as well. Just think of the most lyrical, piercing writers, and people you trust with your whole heart, and then you will start getting close to Cole Arthur Riley's storytelling.
If you're an audiobook person, this is also a wonderful listen.
Lastly, I dare you to find any bad reviews of this book. Every single person I know who has read it sees stainglass where windows once were. Loads of beautiful, aching truth here folks.
I carried this around for weeks like a security blanket I was given at birth. I'm certain it's the most impactful book on spirituality that I've read, but it also opened a window into understanding things like body, dignity, community, wonder, and rage in ways I have never considered below. It's not just for the spiritual reader. It's for anyone who wants to learn how to pay attention, how to live inside their body, and who enjoys a fascinating intergenerational story.
Think: Toni Morrison meets Ocean Vuong meets Mary Oliver meets Henri Nouwen, meets Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, and James Baldwin. Oh, and maybe Wendell Berry as well. Just think of the most lyrical, piercing writers, and people you trust with your whole heart, and then you will start getting close to Cole Arthur Riley's storytelling.
If you're an audiobook person, this is also a wonderful listen.
Lastly, I dare you to find any bad reviews of this book. Every single person I know who has read it sees stainglass where windows once were. Loads of beautiful, aching truth here folks.
February 15, 2023
a stunner. a masterpiece. a total gem, a work of art, a beaut, a blessing, an instant all-time favorite. wow.
i’ve read @colearthurriley’s words on @blackliturgies and i’ve heard her speak at @evolvfaith but even that didn’t prepare me for how blown away i would be by the sheer power and force and weight and wonder if her words here.
none of my words will come close to doing this one justice — it’s magnificent and a must read. A MUST.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but i would give it fifty. absolutely incredible.
i’ve read @colearthurriley’s words on @blackliturgies and i’ve heard her speak at @evolvfaith but even that didn’t prepare me for how blown away i would be by the sheer power and force and weight and wonder if her words here.
none of my words will come close to doing this one justice — it’s magnificent and a must read. A MUST.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but i would give it fifty. absolutely incredible.
June 17, 2023
This is my nonfiction book of the month.
I follow black liturgies on IG and I love the writing and content that this author does. I think this was a good read, the author has a really compelling way with words and I was highlighting everything. It was really interesting to see her connect her upbringing, her relationship with her spirituality and liberation and how that all intersected. I went into this thinking it was poems which it wasn’t but the writing still really flowed and was enjoyable.
I follow black liturgies on IG and I love the writing and content that this author does. I think this was a good read, the author has a really compelling way with words and I was highlighting everything. It was really interesting to see her connect her upbringing, her relationship with her spirituality and liberation and how that all intersected. I went into this thinking it was poems which it wasn’t but the writing still really flowed and was enjoyable.
January 19, 2023
This book is a GIFT. I had tears welling up with just about each chapter! I don’t have words to do this beautiful book justice- I just recommend experiencing it for yourself !! 15/10 stars :)
August 26, 2023
This book is dense, but I can appreciate the prospective.
January 21, 2023
4.5 stars. I fell in love with this book within the first few pages because of her beautiful, poetic writing. She calls this book contemplative storytelling, as she shares thoughts on faith, family, and race through family stories. Each chapter highlights another aspect of her spirituality, with wonder, calling, dignity, and belonging being my favorite chapters (in that order…as you can tell from the quotes below). The first half of the book was better than second…but the first half was magnificent. She left me with some beautiful thoughts to ponder/savor.
Chapter 1 – Dignity
-“You don’t give dignity, you affirm it.”
-“Some theologies say it is not individual but a collective people who bear the image of God. I quite like this because it means we need a diversity of people to reflect God more fully. Anything less and the image becomes pixelated and grainy, still beautiful but lacking clarity…God’s wholeness is in a multitude.”
-“Perhaps the more superior we believe ourselves to be to creation, the less like God we become. But if we embrace Shalom, the idea that everything is suspended in a delicate balance between the atoms that make me and the tree and the bird in the sky, if we embrace the beauty of all creation, we find our own beauty magnified.”
-“No one ever told me the story of a God who kneels and makes clothes out of animal skin for them. I remember many conversations about the doom and consequence imparted by God after humans ate from that tree. I learned of the curses too and could maybe even recite them. But no one ever told me of the tenderness of this moment. It makes me question the tone of everything that surrounds it.”
Chapter 2 – Place
- “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” Simone Weil
Chapter 3 – Wonder
-“As we grow older the serious becomes a simulacrum for wisdom and even honor, impoverished by the honor withheld from us in childhood we become very willing participants in a kind of spiritual maturation that honors the profound and the grave even at the expense of the simple and the beautiful. In fact, the path to wonder is not sophistication or intellect or articulation, it is a clock wound backward, it is foolish, excessive.”
-“Awe is not a lens through which to see the world, but our soul path to seeing. Any other lens is not a lens but a veil, and I’ve come to believe that our beholding, seeing the veils of this world peeled back again and again if only for a moment, is no small form of salvation.”
-“When I speak of wonder, I mean the practice of beholding the beautiful, beholding the majestic, the snow-capped Himalayas, the sun setting on the sea, but also the perfectly mundane, that soap bubble reflecting your kitchen, the oxidized underbelly of that stainless steel pan. More than the grand beauties of our lives, wonder is about having the presence to pay attention to the common place. It could be said that to find beauty in the ordinary is a deeper exercise than climbing to the mountain top.”
-“To encounter the holy in the ordinary is to find God in the liminal, in spaces where we might subconsciously exclude it, including the sensory moments that are often illegibly spiritual.”
-“It’s not arrogant to wow yourself every once in a while. It’s not arrogance, it’s just paying attention.”
-“Wonder includes the capacity to be in awe of humanity, even your own. It allows us to jettison the dangerous belief that things worthy of wonder can only be located on nature hikes and scenic overlooks. This can distract us from the beauty flowing through us daily. For every second that our organs and bones sustain us is a miracle. When those bones heal, when our wounds scab over, this is our call to marvel at our bodies—their regeneration, their stability or frailty—this grows our sense of dignity. To be able to marvel at the face of our neighbor with the same awe we have for the mountaintop, the sunlight refracting.”
-“Practicing wonder is a powerful tool against despair. It works nearly the same muscles as hope in that you find yourself believing in goodness and beauty even when the evidence gives you every reason to believe that goodness and beauty are void.”
-“The most courageous thing we can do as a people is to behold.” -Mako Fujimura
-“Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past—whether he admits it or not—can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.” -Hans Urs von Balthasar
-“When we wonder, we loosen the cords that restrain our love.”
-“To be a human who resembles the divine is to become responsible for the beautiful, for its observance, it’s protection, and it’s creation.”
Chapter 4 – Calling
-“But each year I know love and belonging, a love that doesn’t require sacrifice at the altar of acceptance, I become more of who I already am. I am liberated into what mertin calls my true self. I believe this is my deepest calling. This doesn’t mean I won’t be called into new things or experience spiritual calls to change or grow, but even with the things I will become, I am called to them because on some deep plane of the soul, they are already true of me. I choose them out of a fidelity to self, not an aspiration toward an idealized self.”
-“My journey to the truth of God cannot be parsed from my journey of who I am. A fidelity to the true self is a fidelity to truth.”
-“Just as outer voices can lead you away from the well of your own selfhood, they also have the capacity to usher you into new depths of it, and if practiced right, your calling into selfhood may enhance the sound of self in someone else.”
-“How boring to spend the whole of my vocational energy trying to figure out if I’m choosing the right work. It is of much greater interest to me to talk about how I’m going to do the work with integrity, how I’m going to protect dignity as I work, and what truths are calling out to me as I work.”
-“Excellence may be a part of calling, but work itself is a meeting place for the divine as we experience a God who labors alongside us.”
Chapter 6 – Belonging
-“I say you have to learn how to be with and a part of something in order to know how to be alone. I think it is only out of a deep anchoring and community that one can ever be free to explore the solitary.”
-“Mutuality, the truth that says we don’t just welcome you or accept you, we need you, we’re insufficient without you. One part’s absence renders the whole impoverished in some way, even if the whole didn’t previously apprehend it. In mutuality, belonging is both a gift received and a gift given. There is comfort in being welcomed, but there is dignity in knowing your arrival just shifted a group toward deeper wholeness.”
-“The whole cosmos is predicated on a diverse and holy community and if we bear the image of God, that means we bear the image of a multitude. And that to bear the image of God in its fullness we need each other—maybe every culture, every household, every community bears that image in a unique way.”
Chapter 15 – Liberation
-“To be liberated spiritually is to commune with and seek God without fear of alienation if we do not reach the same conclusions as our neighbor. It is to become spiritual creatives. Who are we that we would demand certainty or clarity of mystery.”
Chapter 1 – Dignity
-“You don’t give dignity, you affirm it.”
-“Some theologies say it is not individual but a collective people who bear the image of God. I quite like this because it means we need a diversity of people to reflect God more fully. Anything less and the image becomes pixelated and grainy, still beautiful but lacking clarity…God’s wholeness is in a multitude.”
-“Perhaps the more superior we believe ourselves to be to creation, the less like God we become. But if we embrace Shalom, the idea that everything is suspended in a delicate balance between the atoms that make me and the tree and the bird in the sky, if we embrace the beauty of all creation, we find our own beauty magnified.”
-“No one ever told me the story of a God who kneels and makes clothes out of animal skin for them. I remember many conversations about the doom and consequence imparted by God after humans ate from that tree. I learned of the curses too and could maybe even recite them. But no one ever told me of the tenderness of this moment. It makes me question the tone of everything that surrounds it.”
Chapter 2 – Place
- “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” Simone Weil
Chapter 3 – Wonder
-“As we grow older the serious becomes a simulacrum for wisdom and even honor, impoverished by the honor withheld from us in childhood we become very willing participants in a kind of spiritual maturation that honors the profound and the grave even at the expense of the simple and the beautiful. In fact, the path to wonder is not sophistication or intellect or articulation, it is a clock wound backward, it is foolish, excessive.”
-“Awe is not a lens through which to see the world, but our soul path to seeing. Any other lens is not a lens but a veil, and I’ve come to believe that our beholding, seeing the veils of this world peeled back again and again if only for a moment, is no small form of salvation.”
-“When I speak of wonder, I mean the practice of beholding the beautiful, beholding the majestic, the snow-capped Himalayas, the sun setting on the sea, but also the perfectly mundane, that soap bubble reflecting your kitchen, the oxidized underbelly of that stainless steel pan. More than the grand beauties of our lives, wonder is about having the presence to pay attention to the common place. It could be said that to find beauty in the ordinary is a deeper exercise than climbing to the mountain top.”
-“To encounter the holy in the ordinary is to find God in the liminal, in spaces where we might subconsciously exclude it, including the sensory moments that are often illegibly spiritual.”
-“It’s not arrogant to wow yourself every once in a while. It’s not arrogance, it’s just paying attention.”
-“Wonder includes the capacity to be in awe of humanity, even your own. It allows us to jettison the dangerous belief that things worthy of wonder can only be located on nature hikes and scenic overlooks. This can distract us from the beauty flowing through us daily. For every second that our organs and bones sustain us is a miracle. When those bones heal, when our wounds scab over, this is our call to marvel at our bodies—their regeneration, their stability or frailty—this grows our sense of dignity. To be able to marvel at the face of our neighbor with the same awe we have for the mountaintop, the sunlight refracting.”
-“Practicing wonder is a powerful tool against despair. It works nearly the same muscles as hope in that you find yourself believing in goodness and beauty even when the evidence gives you every reason to believe that goodness and beauty are void.”
-“The most courageous thing we can do as a people is to behold.” -Mako Fujimura
-“Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past—whether he admits it or not—can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.” -Hans Urs von Balthasar
-“When we wonder, we loosen the cords that restrain our love.”
-“To be a human who resembles the divine is to become responsible for the beautiful, for its observance, it’s protection, and it’s creation.”
Chapter 4 – Calling
-“But each year I know love and belonging, a love that doesn’t require sacrifice at the altar of acceptance, I become more of who I already am. I am liberated into what mertin calls my true self. I believe this is my deepest calling. This doesn’t mean I won’t be called into new things or experience spiritual calls to change or grow, but even with the things I will become, I am called to them because on some deep plane of the soul, they are already true of me. I choose them out of a fidelity to self, not an aspiration toward an idealized self.”
-“My journey to the truth of God cannot be parsed from my journey of who I am. A fidelity to the true self is a fidelity to truth.”
-“Just as outer voices can lead you away from the well of your own selfhood, they also have the capacity to usher you into new depths of it, and if practiced right, your calling into selfhood may enhance the sound of self in someone else.”
-“How boring to spend the whole of my vocational energy trying to figure out if I’m choosing the right work. It is of much greater interest to me to talk about how I’m going to do the work with integrity, how I’m going to protect dignity as I work, and what truths are calling out to me as I work.”
-“Excellence may be a part of calling, but work itself is a meeting place for the divine as we experience a God who labors alongside us.”
Chapter 6 – Belonging
-“I say you have to learn how to be with and a part of something in order to know how to be alone. I think it is only out of a deep anchoring and community that one can ever be free to explore the solitary.”
-“Mutuality, the truth that says we don’t just welcome you or accept you, we need you, we’re insufficient without you. One part’s absence renders the whole impoverished in some way, even if the whole didn’t previously apprehend it. In mutuality, belonging is both a gift received and a gift given. There is comfort in being welcomed, but there is dignity in knowing your arrival just shifted a group toward deeper wholeness.”
-“The whole cosmos is predicated on a diverse and holy community and if we bear the image of God, that means we bear the image of a multitude. And that to bear the image of God in its fullness we need each other—maybe every culture, every household, every community bears that image in a unique way.”
Chapter 15 – Liberation
-“To be liberated spiritually is to commune with and seek God without fear of alienation if we do not reach the same conclusions as our neighbor. It is to become spiritual creatives. Who are we that we would demand certainty or clarity of mystery.”
July 27, 2022
This is an absolute stand out. This left me at times feeling like I’d never read anything like it & other times feeling like these were truths I’ve always known said in ways to make them new again. Arthur Riley has a beautiful way with words, & she brings her contemplative spirit into her storytelling seamlessly.
This is a spiritual book with something for everyone. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
“I don’t have many certainties about God. I do have many hopes. Chief among them is that it’s true what they say: that God is love, is made of love, and looks at the faces of you and me and my gramma and, without hesitation or demand, delights.”
This is a spiritual book with something for everyone. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
“I don’t have many certainties about God. I do have many hopes. Chief among them is that it’s true what they say: that God is love, is made of love, and looks at the faces of you and me and my gramma and, without hesitation or demand, delights.”
October 22, 2023
veryyyy happy this was recommended to me
Read
July 31, 2024I will sit with it, order a physical copy to re read, think and highlight I may eventually assign stars to Cole's valuable contempletive read, but for now I do recommend a slow thoughtful open hearted approach to this beautiful piece of storytelling literature.
July 27, 2022
Beautiful, moving, complex, compelling, telling, illusive, memorable… and so much more. One I’ll be discussing and considering and recommending for a long time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 847 reviews